Win holt



H. E. S. HOLT.

AERIAL ILLUMINATING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 4. I917.

1,319,499. I Patented Aug. 5,1919.

3 SHEETSSHEET I.

H.E.S.HOLT.

AERI AL ILLUMINATING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED SEPTA. 1917.

1,319,499., P Patented Aug. 5,1919.

3 SHEETS SHEl-LT 2.

Fig. 4.

H.'E. s. HOLT.

' AERIAL ILLUMINATING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-4, 19! 1.

$1,312,499. Patented Aug. 5,1919.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

HAROLD EDWARD SHERWIN HOLT, F FARNBOROUG-H, ENGLAND.

AERIAL mommarme DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent. I

Application filed September 4, 1917. Serial No. 189,666.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HAROLD EDWARD SHER- WIN HOLT, hon. lieut. eol., a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at The Grange, Farnborough, Hampshire',]

England, have invented certain new and useflare and blows the'piston and parachute conful Improvements in Aerial Illuminating Devices, of which the following is a specifi cation. 3

This invention relates to aerial illuminating devices .in which a flare or light-giving body of combustible material is attached to a parachute or parachute reflector which regulates the rate of descent of such body, when caused to fall from a height and enable same to be used with efl'ect by airmen on aeroplanes or airships to illuminate the ground below when landing in the dark or to illuminate a particular area for reconnoitering at night or for other urposes. Or it may be fired from a catapu t or by compressed air or other means "from a tube or gun.

My present invention provides a construction of illuminating device of the type referred to wherein the parachute is held in a folded up condition in a casing which forms a permanent part of the flare or light giving body and the automatic release and opening of the parachute, as well as the ignition of the flare are effected in a simple and practical manner .with the object of enabling the illuminating device to be employed on any type of aircraft or projected from the ground.

As the parachute casing forms a permanent part of the flare it remains on the flare after the parachute is expelled and in this respect my invention is broadly distinguished from floating signal rockets and the like in which both the combustible material and the parachute are ejected at the same time from the casing of the rocket.

In a practical form of the invention the flare consists of: a cylindrical c'a'se containing combustible light-giving material and also forming a housing for the folded parachute which. is connected by a. flexible connection or by a spring with a wooderidisk or piston which is in 'turir connected with the flare by a short length of 'wire or the like. A small explosive charge of powder. is placed in a recess in a wooden block on theend of the flare behind the disk or piston and a thin celluloid or other covering which may be sultably impregnated so as to readily burn away is arranged to cover ventilating holes in the block. When the flare is ignited the powder charge referred to is also ignited by asuitable fuse or quick match led along the nected thereto out of the tube. When it is desired to drop the flare from a great height the parachute may be held partly reefed for a. portion of the descent, means being provided for releasing the reefing cord automatically after a predetermined interval.

Patented Aug. 5, 1919.

It will be evident that the illuminating devices described can be dropped out of aeroplanes and similar aircraft by hand after being ignited and require no discharge tube but preferably a dischargetube is employed, electric contact strips being provided near the lower end of the tube in the path of suitable contacts on the flare body, the said 09ntacts being adapted to convey an igniting current to the fuse of the flare from a suitable battery fixed on the discharging tube.

When a launching tube is used on airships, it is suspended some distance below the car or platform and the flare is held in the tube by a suitable catch controlled by Bowden mechanism orv the like to avoid accidental ignition of any explosive gases on the airship by sparking at the contacts of the launchlng tube.

In the accompanying draw1ngs:.

Figure 1 is a central long1tudinal section of an aerial illuminating device constructed according to this invention,

- Fig. 2 is a transverse section through a discharge tube for the illuminating device illustrating the arrangement of electric contacts for conveying the igniting current to the flare and the means for guiding the flare in the tube.

Fig. 3 is a diagram showing the flare with its supporting parachute in the open position. I

Fig. 4 is a plan of the parachute fabric illustrating a method of reefing same,

Fig. 5 illustrates in the side elevation a parachute rendered partly ineffective by reefing, V

Fig. 6 is a detail view, J V

Fig. 7 is a sectional elevation of a parachute showing another methodofreefing,

Fig. 8 is a vlewpartly in section'illustrating means for holding the reefing cord of the parachute and,

Flgs. 9 and 10 are detail views illustrating in section and elevation the arrangement of contacts on the flare body.

As shown the flare comprises an outer tube or case a made of pa er, wood or other light material capable of urmng away with the flare material and closed at its lower end by a wooden ca b which is arranged to fall oil when the are is ignited. A wooden partition or circular block 0 divides the case a into upper and lower compartments the lower compartment serving to hold the combustible flare material d and being closed by a cardboard disk d, while the upper compartment forms a housing for the folded parachute e, and is closed by a wooden disk f. Extending from the partition or block a in which it is fixed and passing centrally downward through the-flare material (1 is a paper tube 9 which forms a passage for air through the center of the flare material and also for the electric igniting wires h and quick match 5 but is temporarily closed at the lower end by a plug or cork g. The igniting wires 72. are connected with tin foil contact strips 72. on the outside of the case a such connection being shown conventionally in Fig. l bnt preferably being made, as illustrated in' Figs. 9 and 10, by first soldering the wires to metal plates l2, fixed in recesses on the curved outer face of the block 0, and pressing the lower ends of the tin foil contact strips 71. through holes 71, in the case a,

so that they lie against the said metal plates von the block a to which they are fixed by screws 72; and washers.

From the contacts as described the wires it pass through radially bored apertures c "0 and a centrally bored aperture 0 in the block 0 into and along the tube 9 to the ig- I thus affording a free passage for air through the block when the celluloid is consumed. Above the block 0 a wooden iston o is placed to which the parachute c is attached,

the piston beingjconnected with the block 0 by a suspending wire 0? of sufficient length to allow the piston to move a short distance out of the tube when acted upon by the ex- I plosive charge Z as hereinafter described As shown ii Fig. 2 the flaretube or case a T is guided in a discharge or launchingtube p by a longitudir ally extending external guide ,begins burn.

rib'a which slides in a groove in the tube 1) and insures the tin foil contact strips h being moved over spring contact strips p in the launching tube ;0 to close the igniting circuit as the flare is being launched. Current is supplied to the said circuit by a battergy which may be carried on the launching tu e.

Instead of arranging a single external guide rib a on the flare tube or case a, it may have two ribs, preferablydiametrically opposed and carrying the tin foil contact strips in which case the spring strips for making contact therewith would-be mounted in guide grooves formed to guide the ribs inthe launching tube.

When the flare is intended to be launched at high altitudes the retardation of the descent by. the parachute may be arranged to only become fully effective at a much lower altitude in order that the descent of the flare may not be too long delayed. Forthis purpose a reefing cord r is laced through the fabric of the parachute as shown in'Fig. 4: in such manner as to draw the same together when pulled tight so that the parachute can. only partly open as in Fig. 5 as long as the cord is held taut. For' holding the cord it may be connected with the cap I) by a wire 1' as in Fig. 3, said wire being in two parts joined at W, by a solder which is capable of being melted by the heat of the flare to re-. lease the cord. In this connection a long delay fuse would be employed for timing the ignition of the flare. Instead of drawing the parachute together by a single cord 1" laced through the fabric in the manner described, an inner set of cords e similar to the suspending cords e couldbe attached to the fabric as shown in Fig. 7 at points in a circle nearer the center of the fabric than the cords e and so held down asto prevent the full opening of the parachute until the cords were released. These cords could be controlled by the wire 1' in the manner described. The wire 1' may be convenientlyv passed through the cap I) to the parachute reefing cord or cords e from a tube .9 arranged in the flare material d, as shown in F11 operation when the flare'with'its parachute is released or launched by discharging through the launching tube, an electric C11- cuit is completedtlfrough the contacts p k and wires k which ignites the delay fuse j then in turn ignites first the explosive charge Z and after a further inter-val the flare d. I

When the powder Zfis exploded it drives'the piston 'o'with the'parachute and disk f out of the case a and ignites the celluloid sheet m. The flare then descends steadily un- I der the control of'the parachute and when igl -.nited What he claims and desires to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In combination with a launching tube, an aerial illuminating device comprising a flare or light giving body, a casing forming part of said flare or body, a parachute fastened to said flare and retained in folded condition in said casing, and means rendered light giving body in the lower compart-' ment, a parachute fastened to, said flare and maintained in folded condition in the upper compartment, and means rendered operative by said tube for subsequently expelling the parachute and igniting the flare.

3. In combination with a launching tube, an aerial illuminating device comprising a flare or light giving body, a casing forming part of said flare or body, a parachute fastened to said flare and retained in folded condition in said casing, means rendered operative by said tube for subsequently expelling the. parachute, and means associated with said first named means for igniting the flarelafter; the parachute has been expelled.

4. In combination with a launching tube, an aerial illuminating device comprising a flare or light giving bod a casing forming part of said flare or b0 y, a parachute fastened to said flare and retained in foldedcondition in said casing, and time fuses rendered operative by said tube and adapted to effect the expulsion of the parachute and ignition of the flare at different times.

5. In combination with a launching tube, an aerial illuminating device comprising. a

flare or light iving body, a casin forming part of said are or body, said are being provided with a central passage, a para- -chute fastened to said flare and retained in folded condition in said casing, and means extended through said passage and rendered I operative b the discharge of the device for expellin tlie parachute, and means associated wit said first named means for igniting the flare.

6. The combination with a launching tube of an aerial illuminating device comprising a flare or light givingybody, a casing forming part of said flare or body, a parachute fastened to said flare and retained in folded condition in said casing, a piston arranged underneath said parachute, and an explo-' sive adapted to expel the piston and therewith the parachute, and means rendered operative by said tube for igniting the explosive and the flare. 1

-7. The combination-with a launching tube provided with contacts adapted to be connected to a source of electrical energy, of an aerial' 'illuminating device, comprising a flare, a casing forming art of said flare, a.

parachute fastened to sald flare and retained in folded condition insaid casing, contacts secured to the casing and adaptedto close the circuit upon engaging the contacts of 4 said tube, means in the circuit for igniting the flare, and means associated with said first named means for expelling the parachute.

8. In combination with a launching tube provided with contacts adapted to be connected to a source of electrical supply, of an aerial 1 luminating device, comprislng a flare or light giving-body, a casing formln part of sald flare or body, and provided wit contacts formed of tin foil strips and adapted to engage the contacts of said tube, a

parachute fastened to said flare and retained in 'foldedcondition in said casing, means rendered operative by the engagementof the contacts for expelling the parachute, and means for igniting the flare.

In testimony whereof hehas aflixed his I signature.

mom rpwian snrnwm HOLT. 

